Space Engineers: Survival
by 117Jorn
Summary: In the late 21st century, mankind finally left the cradle of earth to find new worlds to call home. Ark ships big and small were forged to ferry mankind from the depleted and dying Earth, to new worlds where they may thrive once more. These are the stories of the survivors of the GEAS Odachi, as a group of space engineers work together to survive in the vacuum of space.
1. Chapter 1: What the?

_In the late 21st century, mankind finally left the cradle of earth to find new worlds to call home. Ark ships big and small were forged to ferry mankind from the depleted and dying Earth, to new worlds where they may thrive once more._

 _In order to make this venture possible, men and women were recruited for the cause to build, maintain and supply these vessels during their long voyage. Citizens of astonishing skill capable of manufacturing starships and stations on the fly, and given enough resources could build a small fleet of craft on their own. They were known simply as, Space Engineers._

 _These brave men and women helped tame the Verse for human habitation, building cities and stations. However as time went by, the need for these marvelous men and women slowly faded away, and much of their prowess - and their mark on history - faded from the minds of many._

 _However, during the exodus from Earth, while many Ark ships made it, some did not, meeting fates unknown… however, it is with one of these ark ships that an ancient legacy is awoken, and humanity shall be reminded… of the prowess of a Space Engineer._

* * *

 **Location: Unknown**

 **Date: Unknown**

* * *

"Ugh… geez..." Jaden Takeo muttered as he felt a piercing headache. "I hate going into Cryo with my suit... " he blinked a few times, cranking his neck a bit. "Alright, how are we- WHOA!"

Jaden was suddenly brought to alert as he realized he and his cryo pod were floating in space, certainly _not_ inside a starship. "Who-what-where-THE FUCK?!" He shouted as he spun around. Thankfully though, it didn't take long before he found his ship… half of of at least. Embedded into a nearby asteroid was the rear-half of the _Toronto_ -class Cargo Ship 'GEAS _Odachi_ ', the front half was all but gone, nothing but pieces of scrap metal.

"Oh COME ON!" Jaden shouted as he activated his suit's jetpack, and flew towards the wreckage. "How… how do you do that?! How do you hit an asteroid like that! Did the Gyroscopes and Inertial Dampeners just quit or something?! There is nothing but OPEN SPACE out here!" He flew up towards the ship and punched the hull. "GODDAMNIT! FUCK!"

He vented his pent up rage upon the hull of the trashed vessel for a solid minute, before he panted heavily as he calmed his nerves. ' _Shut up Jaden… just shut up… you're wasting air..._ ' he muttered, as he realized he had already wasted 20% of precious oxygen. ' _Gotta… go through the damage… see what still works..._ '

He maneuvered his suit towards the new 'front' of the _Odachi_ , approaching deck one. Half of the deck was ripped apart, however his suit's sensors detected movement causing him to look up, as he saw the ship's refinery was still functioning, processing whatever was last put into it. ' _Well, the Refinery's functioning, that's good._ ' he thought, as he used his jetpack to move up towards it. ' _Turning you off for now though… don't want to waste energy._ '

He shut off the refinery, before he moved back to the bottom of the first deck. He looked at his sensors, which detected gravity. ' _Oh good, Gravity generator is online still._ ' he thought, before he deactivated his jetpack, as he gentally landed on the deck. "Alright… let's check the reactor..." he thought, as he headed towards the back of the wrecked ship. It was a short walk up a ramp before he stood within the main reactor of the _Odachi_. Upon entering, Jaden sighed as he counted his luck - it seemed the Mark XIV Fusion Reactor was also in good condition, and above he could also see the reserve Oxygen Generator and tank was undamaged as well. And even better, the engineering control panel was also working, which meant he could have some control of the ship… or rather what's left of it.

"Okay, its not so bad..." he said, as he sealed the door to engineering. The still functioning air vents in engineering soon pumped oxygen into the room. Once his suit detected that the room was full of air, Jaden sat down in the control panel chair, and undid the safety harnesses to his suit's helmet, taking it off - revealing his short crew-cut black hair and crimson red eyes, looking to be in his twenties. He pushed out some sweat from his brow as he sighed. "Alright… let's see what we've got here..." he said as he accessed the control panel.

He activated the display as he went through what was left of the _Odachi_. As he expected it was not good at all - with the front half of the ship gone, the large container which stored most of their extra uranium was gone, meaning he had a limited supply within his reactors. Thankfully, it seemed the secondary reactors within either engine pods were still online as well, but didn't possess as much Uranium as the main one does. But they were all linked together in the conveyer tube system. He could see the refinery in the display as well, and even better - one of the two assemblers was also operational it seemed, and a few storage containers with some engineering tools and supplies was intact as well.

' _Well, some good news..._ ' he thought, as he checked the thrusters and power supply. According to the display, he had roughly three day's worth of power using all three reactor's - but that was with the remaining thrusters offline. If he fired them off he'll burn up through his last bits of Uranium before he knew it. Though speaking of thrusters and energy, he _was_ lucky in both areas - two of the three solar panels were still operational, and most of the rear thrusters were also functioning. And better yet, the cargo containers read that they had a substantial amount of food stuffs, and the supplies to construct an agriculture device.

' _Hell of a time to start a vegan diet..._ ' Jaden thought to himself with a small smirk of amusement, before he sighed. "Well… best get to work."

* * *

"Survivor's Log… lieutenant command-... ah hell, acting Captain Jaden Takeo, GEAS _Odachi_ , day one." Jaden said as he spoke into the recording device. "I've just awakened from cryo stasis, and discovered half of my damn ship was _gone_ , along with a lot of its supplies... I did a quick survey of the asteroid we apparently hit, and unfortunately it doesn't have any uranium deposits… it has some ice though, so I went ahead and started mining what I could for oxygen and water."

As he spoke, he checked over the tools he had recovered from one of the supply crates. "Well… there is some good news at least." He said, "I've got a grinder, a welder and a drill. And three day's worth of reactor fuel from all three reactors. Plus a functioning refinery and assembler, along with some extra nickel, iron ore, silicon and cobalt, plus the engines are still in working order… though it's not exactly ideal to fire them off, otherwise my three days worth of fuel will get burned out in 20 seconds."

He sighed as he pulled out his grinder, as he began cutting into the upper hull of the _Odachi_. "Also… after further inspection, I discovered I'm not the only survivor." He said, glancing to the side, as inside the upper floor were four additional cryo pods. "Out of roughly three dozen colonists and engineers… excluding me, there are only four other survivors, still in cryo-stasis. The glass is iced up, so I can't see inside them… but I can confirm that they are alive, and their pod's independent energy systems are still running fine, and can be moved if need be."

Jaden cut out some of the light iron armor off of the hull, pulling it out. "I can't stay here, that much is obvious." He said, "I did a quick scan of the surrounding area, it seems there are a few sizable asteroids in the area… hopefully one of them will have some uranium I can mine, keep me afloat… I have an idea though - I am going salvage what I can from the rest of the ship - thrusters, supplies, critical components… even the refinery, assembler and the extra reactors. I'm gonna load up all the parts I can scavenge up into the starboard engine pod… I'm going to modify it into a makeshift lifeboat. Since it'll have less energy consumption, my three days of energy will expand a bit, and give me some more time to work with… I'll accelerate her towards one of the asteroids, disable inertia dampeners… and float the rest of the way there."

"From there… well, hopefully I can survive long enough to create a comm device and radio for rescue." He said, "If I get the agriculture device working, I'll be set for a while… once I get set up though, I'll see about opening those cryo pods… I can only hope whoever's in them will be more help than trouble..." He took a deep breath. "Fingers crossed on that… "

* * *

It was an arduous task, scrapping the surviving half of the _Odachi_ solo, but Jaden's motto has always been to waste not, loose not. He hollowed out the port engine to allow space for the Refinery, Assembler, and all the other necessities needed to keep living along with cargo containers - and of course the three additional occupied Cryo pods, alongside his own. If worst came to worse, he can try and fix his own and let himself go back to Cryo sleep.

Needless to say, the interior was rather… cramped. All the materials and supplies were scattered around the makeshift lifepod, locked down to whatever surface was able - not leaving much room to walk in. But it didn't bother Jaden too much at least.

After stripping the _Odachi_ of all he could, he grinded down what was left of the bones of the old wreck, giving him an ample supply of titanium and steel plates. Now he strapped himself into the boxy frontal cockpit of the craft, settling in for the inevitably long ride. "Well… here goes…" he muttered, as he hit the switch which activated the thrusters of the craft - the ion engines emitting their bluish hue as they awoke for the first time in what was likely a _very_ long time.

"And she lives," He chuckled lightly as he pushed the craft back as it backed away from the asteroid, the gyroscopes allowing him to slowly turn the craft around to face the void of space, dotted with stars and asteroids. "Alright… which one looks promising... " He looked through the various asteroids which dotted the area of space. He unfortunately lacked sensors strong enough to detect resources at that long a range, so he quite literally was eyeballing it.

"...Eenie, Meanie, Miny… Mo." He said, pointing at the asteroids, before his finger settled on one which looked to be the closest, and… oddly shaped like a donut? "Gah… your getting hungry..." shaking his head, he placed his hand on the throttle before he hit the ignition, as the craft began to speed forward towards the asteroid, its speed slowly climbing.

"20… 25...35... 50 meters per sec should work." He said, as he killed the throttle, disengaging the inertia dampeners, as the little red lifeboat began its trip forward through space. "Well… nothing blew up, so that's good… "

Jaden sighed, before he ran some calculations… the asteroid was a fair distance away, maybe a day's journey… he kept the sensors online to warn him if anything approached their flight path, as he placed on the autopilot before activating the camera of his helmet.

"This is Acting Captain Jaden Takeo, of the Global Exodus Alliance Ark ship _Odachi_ ," He said, "If you are seeing this… then odds are you are a salvage team, a rescue team or… whatever. My ship crashed into the side of an asteroid, and the entire front end was sheared off. I awoke from Cryo sleep on..." he looked at the calendar on his wrist "March 9th, 2517… shit, four damn centuries… most of the other pods are missing, presumed destroyed save for four other pods I have managed to rescue,and are in functioning condition - their occupants vitals still green."

"I am going to attempt to find an asteroid to establish a base within, and figure out a way to survive until rescue arrives." He continued, "The situation is bad… but, I'm use to these." He let out a low chuckle. "Anyways… if you're seeing this, I'm either dead, or this is some history recording in a training video… so all I've got to do is hope this story has a happy ending."

Jaden sighed "So… with that said… I should probably get some shut eye..." he stated, shaking his head. "Until next time… wish me luck people… Jaden Takeo, Signing out."

* * *

 **117Jorn: And there you have it - my first Space Engineers fanfic. Now I know you may be wondering who are within the other four life pods… that's for you to decide. That's right, I am accepting recommendations for four OC's to be within those pods to be opened next chapter and following chapters. So PM me if you have suggestions!**

 **I know this is pretty short for a first chapter, but trust me - they'll get bigger in the following chapters. So send me some OC's, and I'll see what I can do about getting them in here! Also if you have an OC idea in mind, but don't want it to be one of the four in Cryo, go ahead and let me know - I'll see if I can fit them in.**

 **So until next time… Ja Ne!**


	2. Chapter 2: Ground Control

_In the late 21st century, mankind finally left the cradle of earth to find new worlds to call home. Ark ships big and small were forged to ferry mankind from the depleted and dying Earth, to new worlds where they may thrive once more._

 _In order to make this venture possible, men and women were recruited for the cause to build, maintain and supply these vessels during their long voyage. Citizens of astonishing skill capable of manufacturing starships and stations on the fly, and given enough resources could build a small fleet of craft on their own. They were known simply as, Space Engineers._

 _These brave men and women helped tame the Verse for human habitation, building cities and stations. However as time went by, the need for these marvelous men and women slowly faded away, and much of their prowess - and their mark on history - faded from the minds of many._

 _However, during the exodus from Earth, while many Ark ships made it, some did not, meeting fates unknown… however, it is with one of these ark ships that an ancient legacy is awoken, and humanity shall be reminded… of the prowess of a Space Engineer._

* * *

 **Location: Unknown**

 **Date: March 10th, 2517**

* * *

There was a soft beeping noise which jolted Jaden from his sleep, snorting slightly as he awoke "Whatehathuh?" He shouted, looking around in a panic. However a few moments passed as he regained his bearings. "Oh… wasn't a dream…" he muttered. "Shit…"

Sighing, he looked at the alert - seeing the asteroid he had initially set the course for was much closer now, and getting bigger. He reactivated the inertia dampeners as the forward thrusters lit up as the life raft began to slow down as it made its approach to the rock.

Allowing the dampers to do most of the work, he unstrapped himself from the cockpit and reentered the interior of the craft, giving it a quick inspection to ensure all was functioning normally. As well as check up on his sleeping passengers.

The computers unfortunately lacked info on who were actually _inside_ the pods - likely due to the crew manifest being on the bridge and main computer core which was now… gone. So the only thing he knew for certain was that they were alive and healthy. He had mused over the idea of thawing someone out - get an extra set of hands and deal with this… crushing loneliness… but he shook it off - before he ever considered that, he needed to make sure their fuel and food issues were handled first. Otherwise with more than himself, they'd burn through their precious resources even faster.

No, he would wate first. Set up a base, get some Uranium or set up some solar panels, and set up a farm for food and oxygen in a nice, airtight asteroid base.

He looked at his suit's HUD which tracked his movement and speed, recording it was slowing down to zero - indicating that the life raft had finally come to a stop. He went back to the cockpit, looking out the window to see the donut asteroid roughly a few hundred meters away - slightly drifting, but nothing he couldn't handle. Adding a bit more thrust power to match the rotation and speed of the asteroid, moving slightly faster to ensure they would be able to land properly on it.

' _Alright… here it goes..._ ' he thought, as he activated the landing gear mounted under the craft. He needed to take this slow and easy… he didn't want to move in to fast, otherwise he'd crash the whole ship, and that's the _last_ thing they need right now. He just needs to get close enough for the magnetic locks to latch onto the rock, and they'll be set.

The life raft inched closer and closer towards the asteroid, matching its spin easily as Jaden's eyes never left the void. "Come on… come on… " he muttered, as they got closer… closer…

There was a sudden lurch as the whole ship shook - however the console for the landing gear lit green, indicating a solid lock. Jaden let out a sigh of relief "Oh thank fuck..." he muttered, "We're latched… okay… " taking a moment to swipe the sweat off of his brow, he grabbed his helmet as he secured it upon his suit before he left the cockpit to leave the craft - being sure to grab his mining drill as he approached the hatch - it was very much needed, due to the drills having built-in ore detectors for short-range mining, which is what he needed to mine any resources on the asteroid.

He didn't need to worry much about an airlock, since the cockpit was the only pressurized area on the ship, so he was able to easily just open the door and walk outside - activating his suit's hydrogen thrusters as he approached the asteroid, scanning it for anything useful.

"Alright… give me something good please..." he muttered to himself, as he began hugging the asteroid. "Iron… Iron… Ice… Iron… Silicon...Iron… oh fuck, don't tell me-" he paused, wait did he just… he backed up towards the 'hole' in the middle of the asteroid, where there was a large gap along the inner rim, looking suspiciously black. He zoomed in, ore detector online, when…

"YATTA!" He shouted, pumping his fist into the air, as the ore detector lit up. Oh he found Uranium alright, but no just a small vein - nearly the whole damn interior of the asteroid was made of the stuff! There was enough uranium here to last them for months! If not Years! "That's the black gold I'm talking about!"

With the decision very clear now, Jaden sped back to the raft as he quickly began picking up the steel plates he had to begin building the first platform of the soon-to-be asteroid base. It was clear that _this_ was going to be where he established his base - with all of that uranium, he'd be crazy not to.

As he began placing the first scaffolding blocks, Jaden was already going into full engineer mode, plotting how the base would be built. He had a plan to bridge the gap in the center 'hole' of the asteroid, use it as a more stable platform for the life raft to land on, and make it so offloading the cargo will be all the more easy. Though it would be wise to build at least some of the base _inside_ the asteroid as well for protection.

For now he just focused on making a stable platform, as he placed scaffolding blocks as quickly as he could, arranging them in a standard 10 x 10 pattern before he began to weld in the steel plates themselves. The process itself didn't take too long, roughly an hour counting going back and grabbing more plates before finally, the first platform was finished.

Next up was a more critical piece of equipment - the _Odachi's_ old gravity generator, or just 'Grav Drive' as some had come to call it back on earth. While a rather bulky piece of equipment, it was responsible for allowing humans to spread out into space so easily - making atmospheric re-entry and exfil much easier, and cheaper.

' _Placing it here should make mining easier..._ ' Jaden thought. He had dealt with more than his fair share of mining precious resources, only for it to go floating away in zero G. Once the generator was set up, that won't be an issue assuming he doesn't drill all the way _through_ the asteroid when mining without some sort of net.

* * *

"Captain's Log… Day 2 after awakening from Cryo, Lieutenant Commander Jaden Takeo." Jaden spoke up in his personal logs once more as he surveyed his work from the past 8 hours. "Well… looks like I'm not dead yet, so that's a plus… first asteroid I found was chalked full of Uranium, so I should be set for quite a while in that regard… I've begun building an outpost here, pretty basic at the moment though… "

He walked over the surface towards the edge of the base, where the Refinery and Assembler sat connected - along with a small reactor pieced together from one of the old reactors from the _Odachi_. "I started off with a Small reactor for now… I can build up to three large ones, but its quicker to build a small on so I at least have power here… refinery is chugging out Uranium ingots like it's running out of style, sending them straight to the reactor through the conveyor system."

He looked at the short conveyor in question. There was a single junction on the top of the refinery, connected to the reactor and assembler. The refinery itself was laid upright, with the assembler set up to its left, and the reactor to the right. "So… the fuel problem has been handled for the foreseeable future." He continued, picking up a stack of plates. "Now for the air, atmo and food issue… I'll set up a small little enclosed space, move the cryo pods in there… set up the medical bay there with an airlock system… then I'll expand from there, move to O2 tank and generator over, make a vent system… then I can build some food processors with the oxygen farms, and start up a nice stable farm."

He cranked his neck for a moment "After that… then I can think about waking someone else from the pod…" he mused, "Its… getting pretty lonely here…" He allowed himself a moment's pause before he laughed bitterly.

"Its… funny, you know?" He asked, glancing up towards the stars which surrounded him. "I left Earth because I wanted to get away from the crowds… I wanted a new life, away from so many people, to find my own little pocket of space and make a home out of it… now?" He shook his head. "Now I'd kill to have someone to talk to… stop this stupid, endless silence… " He sighed "Until then, though… all I have to keep me company is music… play Space Oddity."

As Jaden began welding the sound of guitars strumming echoed in his helmet, beginning the basis of the airtight rooms as he bobbed his head in rhythm to the music.

 _Ground Control to Major Tom_

 _Ground Control to Major Tom_

 _Take your protein pills and put your helmet on_

 _Ground Control to Major Tom (ten, nine, eight, seven, six)_

 _Commencing countdown, engines on (five, four, three)_

 _Check ignition and may God's love be with you (two, one, lift off)_

He smiled as he listened to the music… it made him think of home, or rather home-that-was as it should be known now… even now, it's hard to absorb just how much time had passed. He remembers Earth as being a horrible place to live in, as the people were trying to migrate into space as quickly as possible to escape the disease, famine and war below. He knew it use to be such a beautiful place, his parents having shown him pictures of the wildlife which once lived on the brown planet that once was blue and green.

 _This is Ground Control to Major Tom_

 _You've really made the grade_

 _And the papers want to know whose shirts you wear_

 _Now it's time to leave the capsule if you dare_

Jaden lived most of his life in space, he was born on the lunar colony Aristarchus, and was practically born into the Corps of Space Engineers (CSE). They were the ones responsible for building colonies and the vast ark ships which transported mankind to their future homes in the 34Tauri(2020) star cluster. Though they helped with the exodus, it didn't mean they didn't have their… _disagreements_ with GEA.

 _"This is Major Tom to Ground Control_

 _I'm stepping through the door_

 _And I'm floating in a most peculiar way_

 _And the stars look very different today"_

The CSE believed the GEA quit 'too early' with the attempts to colonize Venus, Mars and Luna. While they may not of been habitable in the traditional sense, through habitation domes and gravity generators they could become home to _millions_ of people. And Mars still had hope for terraforming if they could melt the polar ice caps. And that wasn't even counting how they could use orbital space colonies like the Bernal Sphere, O'Neill cylinder and Stanford torus - which the CSE had already built several of.

 _"For here_

 _Am I sitting in a tin can_

 _Far above the world_

 _Planet Earth is blue_

 _And there's nothing I can do"_

But, there wasn't much they could do about it… so they had to leave Earth, leave their lunar, martian and Venusian colonies or be left without support from the rest of the human race - using whatever ships they had to make the journey. Jaden could only hope that the rest of his family and friends managed to make it to their new home in better condition than _he_ had.

 _"Though I'm past one hundred thousand miles_

 _I'm feeling very still_

 _And I think my spaceship knows which way to go_

 _Tell my wife I love her very much she knows"_

That thought brought him pause… everyone he ever knew is probably long dead now, unless someone made 'immortality' technology while he was sleeping, which he highly doubted. He doubted he knew anyone in the cryo pods - he was mostly on _Odachi_ to provide maintenance, not socialize with the crew. If everything he knew was gone… why even bother looking for rescue?

 _Ground Control to Major Tom_

 _Your circuit's dead, there's something wrong_

 _Can you hear me, Major Tom?_

 _Can you hear me, Major Tom?_

 _Can you hear me, Major Tom?_

 _Can you "Here am I floating 'round my tin can_

 _Far above the moon_

 _Planet Earth is blue_

 _And there's nothing I can do"_

He shook that thought away. No, even if they were gone… he needed to live. He had to live so the people in those Cryo pods could begin their own future. After that… well… if nothing else, he will have a lot of work ahead of him - you can never have too many engineers around.

' _Space wasn't build in a day, afterall..._ ' he mused, chuckling to himself over the CSE's motto - before returning his focus towards work.

* * *

"Personal Log, continued." Jaden began - taking his helmet off as he sat in the now secured and airtight confines of the room. "After a few hours of construction, I have built the interior of the medical bay area, as well as the hydroponics zone… I've set up the farm with little difficulties, and thanks to their accelerated growth we should expect a some fresh food within a week or so… I may build a few Snowbot Mk-II's to help with maintaining the farm… in fact, building a bunch of those might help me out a long ways in terms of manpower… "

He rested his helmet on the small work desk where the rest of his gear sat. "So… Day 2 and I'm still alive..." he mused, "Well, here's hoping I can make it to Day 3… in the morning, I plan on beginning construction on a dedicated mining ship, something small, but should help me mine the Uranium and other resources much faster. From there… if I have enough materials, I may make a few drones… use them to scout the rest of the asteroids, locate and mark other resources for future mining."

Jaden glanced at the cryo pods to his side "And… on that note… I may open one of the pods tomorrow..." he mused, "I wasn't lying when I said… its getting really lonely out here… now that we're fairly set up, I suppose I could risk opening at least one of them up… " He sighed, standing back up. "Anyways… its bed time… and I've got a long day ahead of me… so, until Day 3… Lieutenant Commander Jaden Takeo, signing out."

* * *

 **AN: And there we are, Chapter 2. I know these chapters are VERY short compared to some of my other work, but once things get rolling, these chapters will be much, MUCH Longer. Also, there are still OC openings for who are in the pods. Don't feel shy, if you've got a character idea - any idea at all - feel free to send me a message about it, and I'll see if I can put them either in a cryo pod, or somewhere else in the universe.**

 **Also, for those of you who may have noticed, there is some inspiration from XPGamers Group Survival series and Captain Shack's RP Survival. But don't worry, I am not just copying his ideas - while I will borrow a few story elements [which I shall not discuss since I don't want to spoil any of you guys who haven't seen his content], this will not be a rip-off of his work. However for those of you who are paying closer attention, you may notice this story may not be just Space Engineers, and might be crossing over with one or two other series. I'll let you guess what series they are, but come next chapter and it may become a bit more obvious in the coming chapters.**

 **So, until next time... Ja Ne!**


End file.
